Maybe I figured it out!

This has to be a new record for me. Just yesterday I complained of a certain photographic malaise I was feeling. Today, I think I might have the answer...and it's simple.

The camera I always felt like I was best on was my old 3 megapixel, 3x optical zoom Olympus that we bought when Will was a baby. My photos just seemed better for some reason. After I got the 12x optical zoom, 8 megapixel Sony and I just couldn't bond with it, I thought it was just that I just hadn't bought the right camera for me. Then we got the Nikon, and I was having trouble finding my groove with it, as well.

Fortunately, Ben's parents have some generous friends, the Holgates. His parents friends were devastated when Katrina flooded their waterfront Biloxi home. They lost everything but what was in the attic. And when they went through the long-forgotten items stored away on high, Mr. Holgate found his old Nikon camera equipment. It was for manual cameras, but it fits on the new digital bodies. He asked Ben's parents if they might like the equipment, and they said they wouldn't be able to use it, but they were pretty sure they knew someone who would. Yeah, that was me.

So I was blessed with a ton of amazing Nikon equipment: lenses galore, filters out the wazoo, and even really great retro cases. I'm still learning the world of DSLRs, however, and I was a little reticent to really go and give the whole manual thing a shot.

Well, today I was browsing some other mommyblogs, and read on Posie Gets Cozie about her wide-angle lens discovery. So I decided to go and dig out that lens and give it a go.

So yes, long story to get to my point of discovery. But I'm getting to it, I promise! Because the wide-angle lens isn't zoom, I used my body again in my photography. I was squatting, climbing, hovering and laying on the ground the get the shot I wanted. I still have a long way to go with getting used to manual focus, but when I sat down and looked at what I had, a light went on. I had become a lazy photographer.

When I got my fancy-schmancy new cameras, I suddenly was content to park my butt and use my newfound zoom capabilities. But for some reason, that seems to have taken a lot of the soul out of my photos. I needed to be in it, to see the light (literally), to find the angle. Even though you never see me in the photos, I am "in" them in my composition. And I was losing that completely.

So today, a wide-angle lens helped me get my groove back. I'm so excited to realize that I haven't lost my touch -- I'd just forgotten where to look for it.

Anyway, I was playing with the focus a lot, trying to get used to full manual, but the slideshow about shows some of my efforts. I don't know if you guys will be able to see the difference, but I know I can. And I expect that my photo plateau will lead me on to even greater picture-taking experiences in the future. Yay!